Penny's Passion: January 2020

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Five on Friday - January 31, 2020

Happy Friday!  Are you ready for some football?  I can't wait for the big game on Sunday.  Keeping my fingers crossed that the Chiefs can pull off a big win.  Here are some other things I'm excited about today ~

1.  Pretzel Pop-Tarts
Guess what's going in my shopping cart this weekend - the new Pretzel Pop-Tarts!  You can get them with cinnamon sugar or chocolate filling.  Pop-tarts aren't just for breakfast anymore!  The salt-flaked, pretzel-inspired crust sounds like a wonderful afternoon snack.  Have you tried them yet?


2.  Break Shot - My First 21 Years
Being a huge James Taylor fan, I'm pumped to listen to his free for Audible members book that releases today.  Here's the summary from Amazon ~
"I'm James Taylor, and I'm a professional autobiographer." So begins the tender audio memoir Break Shot: My First 21 Years. Through decades of songs by the celebrated folk legend who brought us "Fire and Rain" and "Carolina in My Mind", James Taylor has doled out details of his life in the poetry of his work. Taylor says his early life is "the source of many of my songs", and Break Shot is a tour of his first 21 years in rich, new detail. Combining storytelling, music and performance, this one-of-a-kind listening experience also features a crop of musical gems, including an unreleased recording of the beloved hymn "Jerusalem" and selections from his newest release, American Standard, as well as new original scoring by Taylor specially recorded for Break Shot and more.
Recorded in his home studio, TheBarn in western Massachusetts, Break Shot tells the deeply personal story of Taylor's youth, which is entwined with the story of his family. What started as an idyllic tight unit soon became a family sent to different emotional corners - like a break shot in the game of pool, he says, "when you slam the cue ball into the 15 other balls and they all go flying off".
By the time Taylor released his breakout second album in 1970, Sweet Baby James, he had seen the disintegration of his parents' marriage and his family crumble in the aftermath. He had committed himself twice to a psychiatric hospital, battled depression and a heroin addiction, suffered a relapse, and traveled far away from the "wood smoke and moonshine" of the North Carolina landscapes in which he came of age. Despite it all, he was also on the cusp of superstardom and on his way to bringing light and joy to millions. He was 21.
In this Audible Original, Taylor lays bare the emotional turmoil he and his family fought through when he was first finding his musical path. At last, he creates an audio memoir illuminating the tenuous first act of a life he's spent decades learning to fully live. Journey with James Taylor to a time before he became a Grammy Award-winning Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee and a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts, as well as one of the best-selling musicians of all time.



3.  Miss Americana
Netflix is making a splash this weekend with the release of its documentary on Taylor Swift.  Rotten Tomato sums it up like this:  "Miss Americana is a raw and emotionally revealing look at one of the most iconic artists of our time during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice."  It's going on my list of things I want to see.


4.  Groundhog's Day
All eyes will be on Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania Sunday to see if the groundhog will see his shadow.  Rumor has it if he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.  If he doesn't see his shadow, the prediction is spring is just around the corner.  Please, please, please Mr. Groundhog - for goodness sake don't see your shadow!!  Can you believe this ritual has been going on since 1841.  Wonder what the record is for this way of predicting the weather being accurate?

NATIONAL GROUNDHOG DAY – February 2

5.  Best decision....

Image may contain: possible text that says 'A DECISION WAS MADE HERE.'

I hope you have a great weekend.  What's on your agenda?  We have a 50th wedding anniversary party to go to and a birthday party for my 4-year old great-nephew.  Fun times!  And I'm also excited to watch the football game on Sunday and see all the new commercials.  Pop in next week for the recap.

Linking up with:

Friday Favorites Linky Party - January 31, 2020

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:
Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
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You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!
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Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Meet Me At The Library - January 2020 Book Club

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday!  If you're a blogger, I hope you link up below and share what's on your mind.  If you are visiting as a reader, I hope you enjoy the links and share your thoughts in the comment section.

For the last year or so, I've been attending a monthly book club meeting at our local library.  The books are selected months in advance and are voted on by all the attending book club members.  I thought this year I would share the books with you after the meeting and that's what I'm thinking out loud about today.


One of the things I love about attending book clubs is many times the book selected to read is something I would never choose to read on my own.  January's book, The Warmth of Other Suns, is indeed a book like that.  This 640-page true story follows three individuals on their migration north and west.  Each left the south for different reasons, but all looking for the freedom they knew wouldn't happen if they stayed where they were.  Here's the summary from Amazon:
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties.
Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with southern food, faith, and culture and improved them with discipline, drive, and hard work. Both a riveting microcosm and a major assessment, The Warmth of Other Suns is a bold, remarkable, and riveting work, a superb account of an “unrecognized immigration” within our own land. Through the breadth of its narrative, the beauty of the writing, the depth of its research, and the fullness of the people and lives portrayed herein, this book is destined to become a classic.
I found the book a bit slow at the beginning, but soon I could hardly put it down.  Because I was going to be taking a road trip over the New Year's holiday, I downloaded the Audible version and listened to the last 70% of the book.  It was so interesting to hear about the great migration, an event I really didn't know much about before reading this book.  You could tell that Ms. Wilkerson had gone above and beyond to get to know the characters she introduced us to in the book.  She devoted 15 years researching and writing the book, along with interviewing more than 1,200 people.  By the end, you felt like you knew them too.

Besides being awarded a Pulitzer Prize, Warmth has been named to many "best books of the year" lists and November 2019 Time Magazine named it one of the top ten best nonfiction books of the decade.

Everyone in our book club agreed this was a good read and was glad they read it.  Surprisingly, even though the book was published years ago (2011), no one in our group had previously read it.  Have you read it?  If not, definitely one to put on your TBR list.

February's selection is The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani.  Can't wait to start reading this one!  I'll be sharing my thoughts on it after our meeting on February 24.



Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share.

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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - January 29, 2020

Welcome!

Welcome to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop where we enjoy linking up posts about recipes, crafts, DIY, everyday life and more.  The party starts every Tuesday at 7:00 pm EST.  Come and join!! #wwbloghop

Our hosts just want to say THANK YOU to all those who contributed to last week's party and WELCOME to all the new bloggers who have joined our weekly blog hop. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us.

Don't forget to use this hashtag #wwbloghop when sharing our party!
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Friday, January 24, 2020

Five on Friday - January 24, 2020

Happy Friday!  Like always, I'm so excited the weekend is here.  We are bracing ourselves for a wintry mix today, so I'll be happy to get through the workday and head home.  Hope you enjoy today's five ~

1.  Grammy 2020
Every year for Valentine's Day I ask for the same thing - that year's Grammy CD.  The 2020 version was released last week and it's once again on my wish list.  I love having this great blend of top songs all in one place!  And you better believe I'll be cozy on my couch Sunday night for the red carpet and show.  Alicia Keyes is the host again this year with a full cast of performers.  Oh, how I love award season!  Will you be watching?

2020 GRAMMY Nominees

2.  Cabot Spreadable Cheese
I just noticed these in the grocery store - spreadable cheese by Cabot.  There are three flavors:  Extra Sharp Cheddar, Horseradish Cheddar, and Port Wine Cheddar.  I want to try all of them!  Can you imagine spreading it on corn on the cob?  Yum!  Or slather it on the bun of your hamburger!  A few tubs of cheese would be perfect to have on hand for the upcoming big football game too.


3.  National Compliment Day
Today is National Compliment Day.  Brighten someone's day today by letting them know they did a good job or you appreciate something about them.  Compliments have powerful effects.  I bet if you take a minute, you can find a sincere way to compliment every person you come in contact with today.  Let's spread some cheer and compliment as many people as we can!

NATIONAL COMPLIMENT DAY – January 24

4.  The Gentlemen
On my list of movies want to see if The Gentlemen, which opens this weekend.  I just love so many of the actors in this film!  The synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes is this:
THE GENTLEMEN follows American expat Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) who built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he's looking to cash out of the business forever it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.
5.  Favorite piece of wardrobe.....
Now let's get this weekend started!  Eric and I have a date night planned for tonight and we're hoping the weather doesn't mess up our plans.  Tomorrow I'm spending the evening with friends to celebrate Christmas together.  For years, we have intentionally held off celebrating the season until January when life is a bit less hectic.  Fun times ahead.  Pop back in on Monday to hear all about it.  

Linking up with:

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Friday Favorites - January 24, 2020

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:
Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
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If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!
You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!
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Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Let's Make Coconut Macadamia Nut Pie!

It's National Pie Day and that's what I'm thinking out loud about today.  I'm here to share with you one of my all-time favorite pie recipes.  Years ago I ran across this recipe in a Family Circle magazine.  Family Circle had been a popular publication at our house for years and I was extremely sad to see it end this past December after being in business for almost 90 years. 



Here's What You Need
1 homemade or refrigerated ready-to-roll piecrust
1 can (15 ounces) cream of coconut
2 boxes (3 ounces each) cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
1-3/4 cups milk
4 ounces macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped 
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup shredded coconut, toasted


Here's What You Do
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.  Place the piecrust into a 9-inch pie plate and crimp the edges.  Stick it with a fork a few times.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely.


Reserve 3 tablespoons of the cream of coconut.


In a medium-size saucepan, mix remaining cream of coconut, pudding mix and milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil and is very thick, about 18 minutes.  Take off heat and stir in half of the nuts.


Pour filling into the cooled piecrust and refrigerate for 2 hours.


Whip cream and reserved 3 tablespoons cream of coconut to stiff peaks.  Spread over top of the pie.  Top with remaining nuts and toasted coconut.  Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

The nuts add a nice little crunch to this cream pie.  It's going to quickly become one of your family's favorite pies too!


Pie is what I'm thinking out loud about today.  What's on your mind?  Link up and share!

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Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - January 22, 2020

Welcome!

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

Our hosts just want to say THANK YOU to all those who contributed to last week's party and WELCOME to all the new bloggers who have joined our weekly blog hop. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us.
Don't forget to use this hashtag #wwbloghop when sharing our party!
Let's get this party started!!

Top Viewed


Very Popular








Editors Choice


Valentine's Day Inspiration








Thanks to our co-hosts who share our party on their blogs every week ♥ Please follow them and share our party, too?
Be sure to grab our Specially Featured button if your post was featured this week to show off on your blog or sidebar!
Featured Button
Please TWEET our party
  • Add as many of your family-friendly posts as you would like to. No Etsy shops, adult sites or blog parties, please.
  • Visit others. Let them know you stopped by!
  • If you are NEW to Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, let us know in the comments so that we can follow you back. ♥ Help us find your posts – tell us the title.
  • NOTE: party entries appear in REVERSE. i.e. the most recent entry goes to the top! That way all of our guests will have a really good chance to be seen no matter when they arrive.
  • Thanks! ♥
So, now, let’s get this party started!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Cozy Funnel Neck Sweater!

When the weather turns cold, don't we all just love to reach in the closet and grab something that's cozy and comfortable?  I know I sure do and today I'm sharing a sweater that I just can't get in too many colors.


I originally bought this Loft Outlet sweater in navy blue and absolutely loved it.  The material is nice and soft.  Add that to the fact that it's machine washable and I knew I would be going back for additional colors.  If those two facts aren't enough to make you want one, it's currently on sale for only $14.99!  How many would you like?!?  The one pictured is Chinois Green.  It's also available in Industrial Navy, Medium Grey Heather, Orchid Breeze, and Winter Violet.  Click HERE to check them out.


For work, I wore it with a pair of camel-colored pants and my new favorite heels.  I have gotten a ton of compliments on these shoes and they, too, are super comfortable.

Shoes Available HERE

The sweater is great to wear with jeans and booties too.  It's just so darn comfortable!


One of the main reasons I purchase the green color was to match a pair of earrings I got in my Rocksbox set.  You guys know about Rocksbox, right?  Just in case you don't, the summary is it's a subscription service that sends you three pieces of jewelry at a time for a monthly fee.  You keep them for as long as you like.  When you send them back, they send you three more pieces of jewelry.  The monthly fee, $21, can be used towards the purchase of any of your pieces.  These earrings stayed with me.  If you would like a free month of Rocksbox, visit their website (Rocksbox.com) and enter the referral code PENNYBFF15.


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